Wednesday, January 16, 2013

CES 2013...not really that exciting for photographers, but exciting for Pentax users.

I was lucky enough to attend the CES 2013 in Las Vegas. I got there on the second day it was opened to the public and stayed through Friday. Although the media announced that this was the most successful CES ever, I wasn't all that impressed and here's why.

They had more people attending, but I did not see a lot of new innovations. The technology advancements were mostly around televisions and wireless sounds systems for the TV's, automobiles and computers as well.

New super resolution TV's were announced, and frankly, I was astonished by their high definition, that is now beyond anything I have ever seen. The only problem...you can't really use them in your home until the infrastructure of cable networks and television stations is done. Gaming was a good part of the CES this year and they are closer to reality than ever before. That was about it, everything else seemed to be extensions of existing technologies.

I was there mostly for the digital photography equipment. Photography used to be mostly analog and was completely separated from electronic devices. Every year, the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) was holding a similar convention as the CES. Since the cameras are almost all digital, the PMA has associated themselves with the CES. They had to because their attendance was consistently diminishing.

Now, they pretty much have been gobbled up by the CES event. The exposition floors of this year's convention occupied the equivalent of 37 football fields. That's not counting the private suites each major company had for wining and dining their guests and also meeting with potential buyers and retailers.

The photography industry was not as prestigious and was not represented by the usual number of vendors as it was when they had their own conventions, the PMA. Of course, the big camera makers were there. They included Canon, Nikon, Sony, plus various other manufacturers and related equipment vendors. Of course, RICOH PENTAX was well represented. I believe it was their biggest booth space yet. It was attractive and a lot of people were visiting. The Pentax representatives were the friendliest folks there. I met with John Carlson and Amber Renard, (I believe John is Sr. Manager of Sales & Marketing and Amber is Public Relations and Trade Show Coordinator). Both were exceptionally courteous and I am very appreciative of the attention they gave me.

I briefly met and spoke with Jim Malcom, Executive Vice President of the new Ricoh / Pentax company in the U.S. His enthusiasm about Pentax's future led me to believe that Pentax will regain the prosperity it once had. He introduced me to most of the personnel on the floor, both from the U.S. and Canada.

What a great team. I actually felt like I was part of the team myself. Try to approach Canon or Nikon personnel...good luck!

All this positive interaction made me very confident that the acquisition of Pentax by Ricoh, is the best marriage we could ever have wished for. After all, Ricoh is already a player in the Digital Photography market, and Pentax adds to their ability to compete with the leaders of the industry. I believe that Pentax will be the third largest Digital Camera Manufacturer in the not-so-distant future.

Thanks for reading,

Yvon Bourque

This is what you got for $18.97

Jim Malcom to the left and John Carlson to the right.

It's hard to see here but this HD TV was 84".

Early morning crowd visiting the Pentax Booth.

The MX-1 was introduced at the CES and I was surprised at how well it's built. I am actually going to write an e-book about it, after all not everyone wants to be a professional photographer. Some people just want to take good pictures and know how to operate their camera to it's capability. That's what my e-books do.

One of the main entrance was all about Pentax.

If you already own a Pentax DSLR, chances are that we have an e-book for it. Check it out here.